Scientists push to cancel UAE oil deal as risks detailed

The Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences expresses “unequivocal” opposition to a controversial deal signed by the state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Company with a consortium of Israeli and United Arab Emirates businessmen to bring Gulf oil into Eilat on the Red Sea and channel it overland to Ashkelon, on the southern Mediterranean coast, for reloading onto tankers bound for Europe.

The move comes after 46 senior scientists mapped the potential dangers of an oil leak for the environment, the populations of Eilat and Ashkelon and Israel in general, and desalination facilities in the Mediterranean Sea, in a new study.

Among many findings, the study says that an environmental risk survey conducted for the pipeline company failed to include a range of risks to the country’s water supplies, public health, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and the economy of Eilat.

The risk survey for the Gulf of Eilat was “not accurate” about the tides, a subject that has a “critical and immediate impact on oil dispersal and its implications,” the scientists say.

Public opposition to the deal is so widespread that the government has agreed to review it. The ministers of energy, environmental protection, health, foreign affairs, defense, and tourism all oppose the agreement.

Only the Finance Ministry and the Government Companies Authority have registered their support.